A political advisor to Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the "game is not over" following US strikes on its nuclear sites. It comes as the Department of Homeland Security has warned of a "heightened threat environment" in the US. Watch and follow the latest below.
Sunday 22 June 2025 21:57, UK
Iran's ambassador to the UN says the timing, nature and scale of Tehran's response to US strikes will be decided by its armed forces.
Amir-Saeid Iravani condemned "blatant US aggression" and said all American allegations against Iran are "unfounded, with no legal basis and politically motivated".
Donald Trump has just shared a message on Truth Social calling US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities "hard and accurate".
"Great skill was shown by our military," he adds.
Earlier, the UN's nuclear watchdog said the Natanz facility in Iran has been "completely destroyed" and the Isfahan site suffered "very significant damage".
But damage at the underground Fordow facility still remains "unclear", Rafael Grossi said (see 16.15 post).
The B-2 stealth bombers that dropped bunker busting bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities have begun returning to a US base in Missouri.
An Associated Press journalist watched on as at least seven of the B-2 aircraft came in for landing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.
Sir Keir Starmer spoke with Donald Trump on the phone this evening, a Downing Street spokesperson says.
The two leaders discussed the situation in the Middle East and "reiterated the grave risk posed by Iran's nuclear programme to international security".
They also discussed the need for Iran to return to the negotiating table "as soon as possible".
America's ambassador to the UN has just spoken to the Security Council in New York.
Dorothy Shea says Iran "long obfuscated its nuclear weapons programme" and "stonewalled our good-faith efforts" in recent nuclear talks.
She urges the Security Council to "call on Iran to end its efforts to eradicate Israel" and to terminate its drive for nuclear weapons.
Iran has maintained its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and not to make weapons.
Russia's ambassador to the UN has condemned the US strikes in Iran as "irresponsible, dangerous and provocative".
Vasily Nebenzya says America has "opened a Pandora's box" and that nobody knows what new catastrophes it will bring.
"The US is clearly not interested in diplomacy," he adds.
The UK's representative to the UN has just spoken at the Security Council in meeting in New York.
Barbara Woodward says this is a "pivotal moment" for the Middle East and reiterates that the UK did not take part in US or Israeli strikes on Iran.
"My prime minister has been clear," she says. "We urge Iran now to show restraint and we urge all parties to return to the negotiating table and find a diplomatic solution, which stops further escalation and brings this crisis to an end."
Woodward also calls on Tehran to "cooperate fully" with the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, in its investigations.
Iran's foreign minister has arrived in Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin, according to a report by Iranian state-run news agency IRNA.
Abbas Araghchi called Russia a "friend of Iran" at a news conference in Istanbul after the US attacked three of Iran's nuclear sites.
鈥淎ll options are on the table," he added of Iran's response. "I will have a discussion with them on how it should proceed.鈥�
While the UN Security Council meets in New York, Benjamin Netanyahu has been speaking to reporters in Israel.
He says Israel won't be "dragged into a war of attrition" but it also won't end its campaign in Iran prematurely.
He adds that Israel is close to achieving its goals of destroying Tehran's nuclear programme and its ballistic missiles.
On the underground Fordow nuclear plant, which the US dropped special bunker busting bombs on during its attack, Netanyahu says the site is "very badly hurt".
The full extent of the damage is still to be seen, he adds.
The UN's secretary-general takes the floor first in New York, calling the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities "a perilous turn in a region already reeling".
Anotnio Guterres says he condemns any military escalation in the Middle East.
"The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction, and yet we now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation," he says.
He adds: "The United Nations stands ready to support any and all efforts toward the peaceful resolution. But peace cannot be imposed. It must be chosen."
